Alex DeCroce

One of the perks of being the new GOP State Chairman: Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) gets to appoint the five Republican members of the Legislative Redistricting Commission, which will redraw districts for the 2011 elections.  That could help Webber move up to the State Senate.

The conventional wisdom is that State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) will retire in 2011 and that three Republicans - Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.), Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, and soon-to-be Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Jr., the son of the Senator - will compete for his seat.

But with just some minor tinkering of the two Morris County-based legislative districts, Webber could find himself without substantial opposition for the Senate seat.  Morris Plains and Parsippany could move from the 26th to the 25th, and Morris Township, Morristown, Boonton Township and Boonton Borough could shift from the 25th to the 26th - a nearly even exchange of population, based on 2006 census estimates.

That would mean a 26th district ticket of State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville), Carroll and Bucco, Jr.  In the 25th, it would be Webber for Senate, running with Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) and an open seat. Murphy, who sought the 2005 Republican gubernatorial nomination, lives in Morris Township.  Shifting his hometown to District 26 could easily block his legislative ambitions.

It's not who's spending, it's spending period!  Duh!!!

Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce says the more than 830 “budget ballots” cast by taxpayers on the Assembly Republicans’ website demonstrate that they are not happy with the tax and spending decisions being made by Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the Democrats in control of the Legislature.

“Taxpayers, in particular middle class families, are not being heard by the Democrats,” said DeCroce. “We wanted to listen to what actual people who have to say about this budget.”

The results of the balloting show people believe Corzine’s budget relies on higher taxes and fiscal gimmicks than spending reductions, which is the direction the taxpayers wanted the Democrats to head.

Republican Leaders Senator Tom Kean and Assemblyman Alex DeCroce stated today that the Senate and Assembly Republican caucuses were united in their opposition to Governor Corzine’s fiscal 2010 budget and members would not be supporting the spending plan.

GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, center at microphone, with, from left: Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, Assemblyman Jay Webber, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean.

TRENTON - Presenting him as an emblem of youth, GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie today unveiled 37-year old freshman Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) as his recommendation to the Republican State Committee to be the party's next state chairman.

"It's time for the party to have a generational turn," said Christie, standing at a Statehouse podium with state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Westfield) and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany), hours before a private Christie fundraiser headlined by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who Webber backed for president in 2008. 

"Jay is one of the leading young leaders in our party," said Christie. "I like his instincts. Symbols are important in politics. ...I appreciate Jay's support since February, and he has played a key role in terms of being a surrogate for me. I have a great deal of faith and trust in him. He exemplifies the principles we believe in in the party."

The party committee is scheduled to formally embrace Webber next week.

A Ronald Reagan conservative who put the exclamation point on Christie's formal declaration of his gubernatorial candidacy - and broke some hearts in the camp of movement conservative Steve Lonegan - when he likened Christie's leadership mold to Reagan, Webber said he was humbled and honored by Christie's backing to succeed Chairman Tom Wilson.

The legislature’s two top Republicans criticized Gov. Corzine for allegedly making concessions to a public workers’ union for fear that their protest of his campaign kickoff would force Vice President Joe Biden to cancel his appearance there.

The Star-Ledger reported yesterday that the Corzine Administration, fearing Biden would not cross the picket line, made a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers that they would take 10 additional furlough days in exchange for “bankable” personal days they can use in the future.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Westfield) accused Corzine of using taxpayer money for political gain.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) says a recent Gannett New Jersey report that 40% of tax dollars spent by government contracts were approved without formal competitive bids shows that Gov. Jon Corzine’s 2005 campaign pledge to reform no-bid contracts is a sham.

“No bid contracts are an open invitation to pay-to-play, something Corzine pretends to care about but has done nothing to stop permanently in all its incarnations and at every level of government,” said DeCroce. “No-bid contracts imply secrecy. Open competitive bidding is the most honest and transparent way to award government contracts. In a state that is a poster child for corruption, it is also the only way  to both regain the public’s trust and wisely spend tax dollars at a time when so many people are struggling financially?"

DeCroce also criticized two New Jersey Democrats who have sponsored legislation to reform the current process used to award federal monitor contracts in deferred prosecution agreements.

“Isn’t it strange that Corzine and his former colleagues in Washington – Congressmen Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell – love to talk reform and total transparency in government but are invisible when it comes to cleaning up the corrupt mess in their own back yards.

Another Broken Corzine Promise:
Nearly 40 Percent of All Government Contracts Approved Without Bids

            Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce says disclosures that nearly 40 percent of all taxpayer dollars spent by government contracts in New Jersey were approved without formal competitive bids despite Democrat Jon Corzine’s 2005 promise to slash no-bid contracts demonstrates the governor’s “total insensitivity to the desperate need to save taxpayers money.”

            “No bid contracts are an open invitation to pay-to-play, something Corzine pretends to care about but has done nothing to stop permanently in all its incarnations and at every level of government,” asserted DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic.

Christopher Christie says that congressional hearings scheduled for next week on federal monitors and deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) are part of a calculated, multi-front effort to distract him from his Republican Primary and to give rival Steve Lonegan a better leg-up to win the Republican nomination for Governor.

Christie wouldn't say whether he'd first need to see a subpoena before appearing to testify in the matter of DPAs, the subject of the hearings scheduled as a direct result of controversial federal monitors Christie appointed when he served as U.S. Attorney.

"I haven't gotten any formal invitation to go and testify," Christie said on a conference call with reporters this afternoon. "I learned of the hearing in a press release from (U.S. Rep. Frank) Pallone and (U.S. Rep. Bill) Pascrell," who have sponsored legislation to reform the way the feds apportion federal monitoring contracts as part of DPAs.

"It's another part of a concerted Democratic effort two weeks before a Republican Primary," Christie said of the hearings. "When and if I receive an invitation, I will consider it in light of my schedule."

Pointing to a commitment by the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA) to spend money now targeting presumptive GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Christie and prosecutor-targeted legislation at the state level, Christie said the Democrats are trying to use the press and the levers of government to influence an election rather than undertaking the hard work of government.

"It's the front group to ensure Steve Lonegan is the Republican nominee or the ridiculous legislation introduced by Dick Codey (designed to curtail the political ambitions of prosecutors at the state and county levels) using government funds to negatively influence the Republican Primary," Christie explained. "This is political caddies carrying water and carrying clubs for the governor.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) said today that a poll by gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan that shows him running ahead of GOP rival Christopher Christie in DeCroce and Christie's backyard of Morris County is "totally wrong."

"Absolutely not.  Half of everything he's been coming out with we have found out to be untruths in the largest way.  Certainly this poll is totally wrong. We know for a fact that he's way out of line," said DeCroce in response to a question from PolitickerNJ.com.

DeCroce, who has faced intense criticism by the Lonegan campaign, is facing a Lonegan-sponsored primary challenge from construction company owner Lou Signorino.  Earlier this week, Lonegan strategist Rick Shaftan said that DeCroce himself could be in trouble in the primary, since his own poll showed Lonegan leading Christie by seventeen points in Morris County.